How Obese is acceptable?

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Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 93 total)

  • David
    Participant

    I agree with MartynSinclair here but what really annoys me is when they want to charge me excess baggage fees because my case might be 2kg over the limit. Yet passengers that weigh stones and stones more than I are on the flight. My wife weighs around 47kg yet there will be plenty of passengers weighing 100kg+, but my baggage can incur a fee for weighing a bag of sugar over the limit. To be fair, as a GCH I have yet to encounter baggage weight issues as we only ever check in one case between us instead of the 8 we are permitted, but there is a huge discrepancy between how these different but totally connected issues are dealt with by the airlines.

    Weighing passengers is the way to do it, and for plenty of good reasons from the airline’s perspective.

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    canucklad
    Participant

    [quote quote=925850]Weighing passengers is the way to do it, and for plenty of good reasons from the airline’s perspective[/quote]

    You might want to consider moving to the South Pacific David : )

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    Inquisitive
    Participant

    I lived in USA for a reasonably Long time and faced obese person next to me time to time. Those situations were uncomfortable but I just survived the flight as most of those were 2-3 hours.

    But I blame the airlines for this situation, they are continuously reducing the seat width. As they made so many rule why can’t another one by asking obese people beyond certain girth to buy 2 seats.

    But a couple of comments on OP and some others.
    1. The claim one made that an obese person took 50% of his seat, that could be a lie. I am sure he didn’t allow the arm rest to be lifted and then there is no way one can take 50% of next seat.
    2. By booking one window and one aisle in 3 seat configuration, one feel smart and hope that middle seat could be vacant. I know others do it. But sometimes one win and other times God smile on you.


    GivingupBA
    Participant

    [quote quote=926022] 1. The claim one made that an obese person took 50% of his seat, that could be a lie. I am sure he didn’t allow the arm rest to be lifted and then there is no way one can take 50% of next seat.[/quote]

    That was me. Please do not say “that could be a lie”: it was not and I find that offensive. I was very careful to tell the exact, precise truth in my post. You added “I am sure he didn’t allow the arm rest to be lifted”. About the arm rest, this is what happened: the passenger boarded before me and must have raised the arm rest and flowed into my seat: I then arrived at my seat. It would have been impossible for me to get the arm rest down again as he was then covering it: so I did not “allow the arm rest to be lifted”. I was there, you were not, and I know exactly what happened. Perhaps you would’ve complained to cabin crew: I didn’t. The plane was chock full and no alternate seat was available. So let me repeat – on a JFK to LHR flight in economy years ago the guy in the seat next to me took up half of my seat, yes exactly 50%, for the whole flight.


    Inquisitive
    Participant

    GivingupBA, yes I made an assumption (said could be)and as it was not correct, I am sorry about that.

    And yes, if I face that situation, I will call crew and if the situation is not resolved I will not fly that flight. (Unless urgent situation). In USA there are so many alternatives, I noted airlines are quite accommodating to rearrange a flight. LHR-JFK also has lot of alternatives.

    The point I want to make that we shall blame airlines. And time to time we want to do smart thing, but on some occasions we could be in receiving end. In this case, OP could have voice serious concern to crew and then offer the obese person the window seat; the journey would have been more comfortable. And crew might have allowed them to spent some time at galley area with nice wine.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    GivingupBA
    Participant

    [quote quote=926044]GivingupBA, yes I made an assumption (said could be)and as it was not correct, I am sorry about that.

    And yes, if I face that situation, I will call crew and if the situation is not resolved I will not fly that flight. (Unless urgent situation). In USA there are so many alternatives, I noted airlines are quite accommodating to rearrange a flight. LHR-JFK also has lot of alternatives.

    The point I want to make that we shall blame airlines. And time to time we want to do smart thing, but on some occasions we could be in receiving end. In this case, OP could have voice serious concern to crew and then offer the obese person the window seat; the journey would have been more comfortable. And crew might have allowed them to spent some time at galley area with nice wine.[/quote]

    Thank you for your reply, and that is quite all right. I agree that it would have been much better for me to call the crew and “if the situation is not resolved … not fly that flight”. (In fact I had to be on that flight that day to London). I am the type to suffer in silence and just accept situations but that is not always right, or the best way.


    IanFromHKG
    Participant

    k1ngston, I couldn’t find anything on a quick trawl of CX’s site but I was interested to see that BA require that passengers “will need to buy yourself an extra seat for comfort if:
    you’re travelling in economy and need more space to easily fasten your seatbelt for take-off, landing or during periods of turbulence
    or
    you’re unable to fully lower both armrests of your seat as it is a safety requirement to have a fully lowered armrest between each passenger during take-off, landing and turbulence.” (see link here)
    Too late for you now on that flight, but perhaps something to remember for the future

    5 users thanked author for this post.

    K1ngston
    Participant

    Thanks for that Ian, much appreciated I will certainly look out for it in the future!


    capetonianm
    Participant

    KLM’s website is also pretty clear on the matter of oversized pax.


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    It is not for us to judge why a person is obese. So let’s be factual here. Either the person fits on one seat, or not. The principle is that simple, and well described by BA. Now how to put this into practice is the challenge. A passenger size tester at check in is of course out of question. And an airline keeping that kind of information on file would quickly have to pay huge fines. So when the flight is full, it leaves the crew with only two choices: accepting the passenger or removing him from the flight. Painful decision either way…


    AndyS
    Participant

    Lets not beat around the bush here. People who book a window and an isle and leave the middle free are hoping nobody books that seat therefore giving themselves 3 seats for the price of 2. I’ve done it myself on lower load flights (we have access to load figures)

    However I don’t agree with skyhigh. Most fat people don’t have a medical condition, just an eating too much food and afraid of exercising disorder.

    If you can’t fit in the space provided you should pay more for larger seats or 2 seats. It’s no one else problem. Shows a certain mind set also that it’s somehow not the fat persons fault or problem.


    Inquisitive
    Participant

    Most obese people situation happens in USA. And US Airlines have around 88% load factor. So the situation is managed.

    Outside USA, highest load factor is for Ryanair (94%) and the Asian airlines. European airlines have 85% load factor and BA is no different.
    I believe airlines have means to solve this and they are doing this.

    Although I travel mostly business now, but during my stay in USA I travelled mostly economy and I have witnessed US airlines manage this situation well.

    Airlines are not going to take any action unless regulators specify minimum seat width. And with average 85% load factor hardly any flights goes full.


    PeterCoultas
    Participant

    Having just “enjoyed” the Y seating in a BA Airbus 320 I’d suggest that obese passengers should be required to sit together….and I must disagree with Sky-high that obesity is not necessarily a life style choice. There are many conditions that make weight control more difficult but regardless of these without the calorie input there will not be the weight gain.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    K1ngston
    Participant

    AndyS to your point and it is a fair one! When we booked the window and aisle we would have liked the middle seat to be empty but in reality we knew this wouldn’t be the case, what we were not expecting is what we got! Now call the terminology what you like and to be more PC, this gentlemen clearly couldnt fit into a seat wherever it would be in a Y cabin, whether this was his issue, or the airlines we ALL suffered for the whole journey!


    BackOfThePlane
    Participant

    Slight variation on this theme….at the weekend, the Mrs and I returned from Bangkok with Thai Airways in Y class.

    It was their 777-300 which, thankfully, is still configured as 3-3-3. Looking around the departure lounge there were a lot of generously proportioned pax who I was really hoping not to share a tight space with for just under 13 hours. Luckily, we were ‘partnered’ with a sparrow of a woman who probably thought I was mad (or a perve) when I sized her up and smiled.

    Point is, I’m guessing that some routes attract far more larger pax than others?

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